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BASEBALL: P'ville-Du Quoin #1 Juniors advance

Posted July 18, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After a four-game romp through the American Legion's 25th Division Tournament for Posts 2504 & 647's Senior team and two days of play at the Juniors' playoff in Steeleville, no Pinckneyville-Du Quoin team had tasted defeat in the postseason. On Sunday, something had to give.

Pinckneyville-Du Quoin's No. 2 Junior team, made up of athletes entering ninth and tenth grade, surprised Sparta and Metropolis on their way to meeting up with Posts 2504 & 647's No. 1 team, composed primarily of players who will be juniors and seniors in high school this fall to decide the winner's bracket and clinch a spot in the Division Tournament next week.

Facing All-SIRR pitcher Evan Chapman proved to be too much for the younger group to handle, as the #1 Juniors proved their regular season District crown was well-deserved with a 9-0 triumph that followed their 8-1 win over Chester on Saturday.

"I'm proud of those guys over there too," said Alan Engelhardt, head coach of the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin #1 Junior squad. "They're scrappy, we got up 6-0 and they could have quit, and they fought us and stretched it out to a seven inning game. It's different facing kids that you know that much about, it's almost like an intra-squad scrimmage."

Chapman didn't appear to be treating the game as a scrimmage, however, fanning eight batters and allowing just four hits and a walk in the seven-inning shutout.

"He has such good command of four different pitches, whether it's fastball, curveball, change-up or knuckleball, he commands all four and throws them where he wants to, when he wants to," Engelhardt said. "He's not afraid to throw any of them with three balls. He's going to have success because they don't know what's coming, and even if they do, he's hitting his spots so they're not going to do anything major with it."

The offense got on the board early for the No. 1's, as Dylan Hardin and Hunter Queen both singled and scored in the bottom of the first off of No. 2's starter Caleb Dahn. Doubles by Justin Bumann and Chaz Ruffino started off the bottom of the second, and team No. 1 led 6-0 after hits from C.J. Opp and Joey Burris.

Dahn settled in and threw four straight scoreless innings after that, but the No. 2's offense was simply overmatched at the plate.

After getting ground-ball double plays to end each of the first two innings, Chapman got a 1-2-3 third, then struck out four of the next five batters he faced. He would fan the final two hitters in the seventh as well, and allowed just one runner past second base all day while facing only three batters over the minimum.

"We know when we give him the ball, we're going to have a chance to win every time," Engelhardt said.

The No. 1's scattered 14 hits in the game with Opp (3-4, R, 2B) and Burris (3-4, R, 2B) leading the way. Queen (2-4, R), Bumann (2-4, R, 2B), Hardin (1-4, 2 R), E. Chapman (1-4, R), Ruffino (1-1, R, 2B, BB) and Luke Chapman (1-3) also had hits for the elder group.

Brian Taylor (2-4), Chase Lazenby (1-2) and Colton Nelson (1-2, 2B) had the hits for younger team No. 2.

P-DQ Junior team No. 1 now gets a day off before facing the winner of Monday night's consolation bracket final (7:30 p.m.), which will include the No. 2 team. The championship of the Junior District Tournament is Tuesday night at 5:00 p.m. in Steeleville, with game two at 7:30 p.m. if the No. 1's are defeated in the first contest.

<u>Opp flirts with perfection against Chester</u>

The No. 1's advanced into Sunday's game by virtue of their 8-1 dismissal of Chester Post 487, a game in which Opp took a perfect game into the seventh inning before finishing off the complete game with 11 strikeouts and 1 hit, 1 walk, and 0 earned runs allowed.

"I was able to spot my fastball, my curveball was working pretty good today, I hit spots with that too, kept them on their toes a little bit," Opp said. "For the most part, I was able to throw my fastball past them for the majority of the game."

The No. 1's have yet to trail in the tournament, and jumped on Chester with two quick ones on Saturday in the first inning on hits from Hardin, Queen, and E. Chapman. Ruffino singled and scored in the second, and Hardin scored after reaching on a fielder's choice when Queen doubled him in for a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the zeros continued to pile up on Chester's side as Opp sent the first 18 batters down in order, striking out five-of-six hitters he faced in the second and third innings.

"I knew no matter what, we were going to be able to score," Opp said. "We've done it all year, we've always been able to put up runs and outscore teams, so I figured if I do my job, the offense would do theirs."

Opp is pitching again this Legion season after not seeing the mound in the second half of the high school season and Regional tournament due to an injury, and appears to be making up for lost time on the hill. His Pinckneyville Panthers were knocked out of the Regional tournament in the opening game after their pitching staff began to wear thin at season's end.

"I'm coming back with a little bit of a vengeance," the left-hander said. "I was a little upset to (not be able to pitch in IHSA Regionals), if I'm healthy, who knows what may have happened. I'm really looking to make a deep run in (Legion baseball)."

Hardin (3-5, 2 R, 2B) and Queen (3-5, R, 2B) each had three hits in the game, Opp (2-4, R, BB), E. Chapman (2-4, 2 2B) and Travis Chapman (2-4, R) each added a pair. Burris (1-3, R, BB), L. Chapman (1-4), Bumann (1-2, R, BB) and Ruffino (1-2, R, BB) also had hits on Saturday.

When combined with their efforts on Sunday, Opp (5-8), Queen (5-9) and Burris (4-7) are each batting over .500 for the District Tournament thus far.

<u>No. 2's shock Sparta, Metropolis</u>

The road for team No. 2 to get into Sunday's winner's bracket final was a bit more dramatic, and given their age, perhaps even more impressive.

Posts 2504 & 647 No. 2 met a heavily-favored Sparta Post 396 on Friday, but starting pitcher Camden Mercier was up to the task, throwing a 7-0 shutout and allowing just two hits while striking out nine and walking five. Mercier was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two driven in.

Taylor (1-3, R, BB), Dahn (1-3), Lucas Carter (1-3, BB), Adam Banach (1-2, R, BB) and Dalton Bigham (1-2, R, BB) also hit safely for the No. 2's.

The victory set up Saturday's meeting with Metropolis Post 306, where the No. 2's twice had to play from behind on their way to a 5-2 win behind starter Cole Bigham.

Bigham allowed five hits, one earned run and three walks to go along with a pair of strikeouts, but the big statistic for the young lefty was the victory.

"Exactly what Camden (Mercier) had to do last night, Cole (Bigham) did tonight, throw strikes," said No. 2 team head coach Dave Sanders. "He worked behind a lot of batters, but he got the pitch when he needed it. He got them swinging, as long as you keep guys like that swinging and keep it in the park, we've got a pretty good defense, we'll get them out most of the time."

Bigham singled and scored in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1, then after Metropolis picked up a run in the fourth, Pinckneyville-Du Quoin made their big rally in the top of the fifth. Carter and Mercier got on with one-out singles and Brendon Shepard drove them in with a double to grab the lead. Lazenby followed with another double, giving P-DQ four straight hits and a 5-2 cushion.

"We just keep talking about attacking the ball in the strike zone," Sanders said. "Shep's been pretty good all year, he's struggled a bit here lately, but he got some good swings in. Very opportunistic, he hit it when it needed to be hit."

Bigham (2-3, 2 R, 2B) had a pair for the No. 2's at the plate. Taylor (1-2, BB, SAC), Carter (1-2, R, BB, SAC), Mercier (1-4, R), Shepard (1-3, R, 2B, HBP), Lazenby (1-3, 2B, HBP) Dahn (1-3), and Nelson (1-3) also hit safely for Pinckneyville-Du Quoin.

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